Not exactly sure where she was heading with the conversation, I felt an urge to explain myself.
“Look Hiromi, with me it’s real simple. I love women.”
When her expression didn’t change I went on. “I love everything about women; from their nurturing and empathetic nature to their aggressiveness to be taken seriously. I especially love the female form; the curves on the back of your calf, the shape of your butt, even the lines of a woman’s shoulders and neck. And the really best part is that no two women are the same—or at least they’re usually not.” I said wistfully.
“Some women have breasts that are pert and strong that I love massaging and kissing while others are heavy enough that I can put my hands underneath and cradle the weight. Some women can arch their back in an unbelievable way and did I ever tell you how sexy a woman’s feet can be?” I said seriously.
I’m not sure why but I really wanted her to understand.
“What I like most though is being inside a woman. That sense of filling her with pleasure. That faint little gasp when I first slip inside her. Watching you squirm and writhe as I make love to you is important to me. And then the tensing of muscles and curling of toes when a woman just can’t take it anymore and gets overwhelmed with pleasure.”
“Call me a dog if you want Hiromi but the truth is I just love women.”
“I don’t curl my toes,” Hiromi laughed.
“Yes you do. I’ve seen you.”
Hiromi kissed me on the forehead and stood to leave. “All the things you just said are things I know and love about you Mark but there is going to come a day when you find a woman you don’t want to share or let go of; someone that without trying will demand your true love. I just hope that you’ll be able to recognize those feelings inside yourself in time to make it work.”
As she started to leave she paused and said over her shoulder, “Also, you should know me well enough by now to know that I don’t lie; I don’t curl my toes.”
General Nesbit was dead.
We found out from Captain Silva about three hours before Colonel Memphis made an evening statement on our smartpads.
At about the same time that Silva was giving his report Julie had also learned the news from Dr. Sullivan. We had gathered in Major Reagan’s quarters along with Anzio, Toni, Dr. Decker, and Captain Hiromi. I don’t think anyone really trusted Decker and no one was talking out of school but he’d been with me when an obviously upset Julie found me.
“According to Dr. Sullivan,” Julie was explaining. “The general has suffered from arterial bleeding in the brain; it was a massive cerebral hemorrhage. It goes along with the reasons the Noridians were giving for his slow recovery.”
“Why couldn’t they prevent it?” Dr. Decker asked. “With their technology I would have thought they could have caught it immediately and at least mitigated the damage.”
Several of us looked at each other, unsure if we should voice our real fear.
Finally Major Reagan spoke up, “We may never know the reason for that but we have to move on and ask ourselves how this affects the mission.”
I made a mental note that Dr. Decker seemed truly effected by the general’s death; which was in a weird way relieving considering all of the conspiracy theories I was juggling in my head.
Captain Silva took up the thread, “In practical terms it doesn’t change much. Colonel Memphis has been in charge since the general first fell ill so not much changes there, and we still have our excursion tomorrow that could be very informative.”
Our 3rd Platoon had been notified this morning that we would be visiting a planet that Noridia had befriended thousands of years ago and that we would be free to talk to its people about what it was like to work with them and to become a part of the Noridian culture.
Captain Silva continued, “I think we should be more concerned about the psychological effect”.
“There are also the political ramifications,” I interjected. “General Nesbit was by nature a cautious man but Colonel Memphis already seems to be gung-ho on trusting the Noridian’s completely.
“At least it seems that way to me. What is your take on it Dr. Decker?”
Yes, I know I was pushing him but I wanted to get a better feel for what he was thinking. Judging from how everybody shifted their attention to him and awaited his answer I don’t think I was the only one.
“I… I think that’s a fair statement,” he responded. “I understand Colonel Memphis’ and Dr. Helmer’s excitement about what the Noridians can give to us but I know that I have a lot of questions that no one seems to have answers to.”
“Like what?” I asked.
“I’m not sure this is the right place to go into it,” he said while looking around at all of us.
Without hesitation Major Reagan spoke up and said, “Dr. Decker, this is exactly the right place. What are your concerns?”
After a very long pause Dr. Tony Decker took a breath and said, “Ok, I don’t think the Noridian’s are leveling with us, at least not completely.”
When we didn’t say anything he went on.
“Look, why are we on this mission; or more precisely, why do the Noridian’s want to take us on this tour? We’ve been so anxious to see the big wide universe that nobody’s stopped to ask why the Noridians would want to play tour guide.
“Everything we’ve seen, everything we’ve learned could have been done on earth—probably a lot faster and with far less resources involved than building a ship.
“Another thing… Why can’t we communicate with earth? I know they tell us that in our mode of travel instant communications like that are not possible, but there had to have been opportunities when we slowed down or stopped to launch the excursion. Maybe there’s a good explanation for it but it doesn’t make sense to me.”
He took a deep breath and continued. “The only thing that does make sense is if they wanted us isolated. They’re making a giant sales pitch and they want time alone with us so that Earth’s best and brightest will return totally sold and singing their message.”
In a quieter voice he added, “I’m just not sure yet what that message is.”
Well, who’d have thunk it? The arrogant scientist that seemed to make a point of being a pain in the rear had seen the obvious that all of us had missed and by himself put the pieces together to reach a similar conclusion as we did collectively.
Like usual, Major Reagan knew how to best handle the situation. “Dr. Decker,” he said as he stuck his hand out. “Welcome to a group of like-minded people.”
In a shallow way I think everyone felt relieved to have our fears validated by a third party. If other people were just as paranoid it might very well mean that we weren’t crazy. Of course, that’s totally ignoring the fact that it just validated that our whole species was in a lot of danger.
Julie and I though had all the confirmation we needed with the announcement of General Nesbit’s death. Earlier that morning after the breakfast announcement of our Platoon’s excursion we had taken a walk and she had paused in that uncomfortable dead-zone where the hallways connect with the hubs. I realized it was a brilliant precaution and I listened closely as she outlined her concern.
She explained her theory that the Noridians were purposely staging paradigm shifts to shape our groups opinions and mindset; something dramatic shakes us up, then we get the soothing sales pitch. She explained that unlike the last excursion tomorrow’s outing would be the proselytizing half of the equation and that if she was right…